The grace of maturity

You must draw near to our Lord, and speak to Him of something else, until your spirit is restored and tranquilised. For whilst the trouble lasts, you ought not to say or do anything, but remain firm and resolute not to consent to your distress, whatever reason there may be for it; for you will never want reasons at such a time; they will come in crowds; but you must not listen to one of them, however good it may seem to you; but keep yourself nigh unto God, speaking to Him of something else, as I said, and diverting your mind from the subject of your sorrow after you have humiliated and submitted yourself before His majesty.

But observe this remark, which I take pleasure in repeating because of its utility: humiliate yourself with a sweet and peaceful humility, and not with a sad and troubled humility; for it is our misfortune that we bring before God acts of humility full of vexation and sorrow; and so doing, we do not assuage our spirits, and we render those acts fruitless. If, on the contrary, we perform these acts before the Divine goodness with a sweet confidence, we should come out full of peace and serenity, and would very easily reject all the reasons, very often and generally speaking unreasonable, which our own judgment and our self-love suggest to us, and we would go and speak to those who corrected us with as much ease as before.   – – Saint Francis de Sales, Advice on receiving and giving correction.

spacer

Leave a reply